Emotions are an inherent part of human
nature. We all experience emotions for every event that occurs in our lives.
From a baby’s smile to a dog’s bite most events give rise to an emotion in us.
The six primary emotions[i]
we feel are: love, joy, surprise, anger, sadness and fear (see appendix A for a
table based on primary, secondary emotions).
There are a number of theories of
emotion in psychology based on modules of cognitive, behavioural and
physiological. The theories given by James-Lange, Cannon-Bard and Schachter-Singer,
which will be discussed in this paper, are all composed on the physiological
module.
Theories
of Emotion in Psychology:
1. The James – Lange Theory of Emotion: This theory of
Emotion is one of the oldest theories. William James and Carl Lange came up
with this theory, although independently their theory suggested the same idea.
That is, emotion occurs in a human when they are posed with an external
environmental event which leads to a bodily response based on which they feel a
particular emotion.
Basically,
Event à Physiological change
àInterpretation à Emotion
For example, when you
see a ferocious dog your heart starts to race and you feel scared, i.e fear of
the dog.
2. The Cannon – Bard Theory of Emotion: This theory rejected
the James – Lange theory on the basis of the physiological change that was felt
by the individual. That is, Walter Cannon along with Philip Bard said that the
physical change in the body could be the same for two different emotions. This
means that the event faced by the individual resulted in the physiological
change in the body and emotion simultaneously.
Event à Physiological Change
àEmotion
For example, the
racing of one’s heart on seeing a snake is interpreted as fear of the snake.
Similarly, the racing of one’s heart on seeing someone you like is not
interpreted as fear but as love. This theory basically suggests that the same
physiological change that occurs in one’s body denotes a different emotion one
feels in different situations. Another example would be that of women crying
due to excessive happiness as well as excessive stress.
3. The Schachter – Singer Theory of Emotion: Years later, Stanley
Schachter and Jerome Singer developed the theory saying that emotion is felt
not only by a physiological change in the body and the situation, it also
arises because of a thought process that takes place. For example when you see
a bear that is growling you are scared because your heart races and also
because you think that the bear might attack you. On the other hand if you see
a teddy bear you are not frightened not only because your heart is not racing
and that you know that a soft toy will not attack you but also because you find
a soft toy adorable so the emotion arising this time is not fear.
Event à Physiological Change
in the body à Reasoning à Emotion
Each theory in its own way tries to
explain how we feel emotions. Each has its own limitations and advantages.
While some say the James – Lange theory is not perfect others question the
reasoning aspect in the Schachter – Singer theory. When reading and applying
these theories in day-to-day life, I can see that there are times when my brain
does not reason an emotion. Basically, emotions are extremely spontaneous
according to me, for example when faced by someone I am not on good terms with,
there was no emotion of hatred but there was a feeling of pity for the person.
Here I did not stop to reason why I felt the particular emotion, it was more of
the social conditioning I had from childhood (social values and ethics).
Similarly, when faced by a barking dog,
three years ago I would have been extremely scared since I knew dogs are scary.
But if today I was faced by a barking dog, instead of being scared I’d be
commanding the dog to be quiet. This change in emotions has happened with the
change in circumstances, i.e. the change in attitude towards dogs has changed
over the years from fear to confidence.
The Cannon – Bard theory is the most
closest to my acceptance of the three theories of emotions discussed, because
the explanation is rational and I have noticed this to be true in most cases.
Another point that I have noticed when observing the processes of these
theories is that the observation often becomes biased due to the knowledge of
the study. This helps me understand that each theory is right in its own way to
certain situations. For example the James – Lange theory fits well in the
grizzly bear example as compared to the Schachter – Singer theory because it is
more likely that I feel scared because of my heart racing than reason out that
the bear is going to eat me and therefore I am scared. The reasoning is
probably going to happen when I’m at a safe distance from the bear.
Therefore, there are many
more theories of emotion in psychology because emotions tend to be very
subjective not only to the person feeling them but also to the situations each
person is faced with.
[i]
Primary and Secondary Emotions in a table from the website: http://alleydog.com/topics/emotion.php#ixzz2MwxChKFL
By
Nikita Nilekani
FSLE-3, FLAME School Of Communication
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